The GFOA's New President-Elect and Executive Board

The GFOA's New President-Elect and Executive Board

Article excerpt

The Government Finance Officers Association is governed by an 18-member Executive Board, which consists of 15 members-at-large serving staggered three-year terms, the current president, the previous year's president, and the president-elect. At the association's annual meeting in June 2015, GFOA members voted for a slate of nominees for president-elect and five new members-at-large, each of whom is profiled below.

PRESIDENT-ELECT MARC GONZALES

Director, Department of Finance, Clackamas County, Oregon GFOA Member | 28 years Committees Served

* Retirement and Benefits Administration (ex officio)

* Governmental Budgeting and Fiscal Policy

GFOA Board Member 201 1-2014 and 2014-2015

MARC GONZALES, president-elect, identified his goals for the upcoming three years: 1) engage with the association's constituency in new ways to create financial sustainability in all levels of government, including expanding GFOA offerings for smaller units of government; 2) create paths for a future generation of public finance officers, helping them aspire to careers in support of the public good; and 3) continue GFOA's critical and effective support for wise regulatory and legislative activity at both the federal and state levels.

As director of the Department of Finance for Clackamas County, Gonzales led the department in creating a performance budgeting and results measurement program. He's also part of the county's executive management team. Over his tenure with the organization, Clackamas County has received GFOA's certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting 20 times and the distinguished budget presentation award 19 times.

Gonzales is also a past president of the Oregon Government Finance Officers Association and a six-term citizen member of the Multnomah County (Oregon) Investment Advisory Board. He helped develop a pension reform legislative concept that was passed in 2003 and 2013 Oregon State legislative sessions and a pre-session legislative policy development on behalf of the county. Gonzales has also testified before the Oregon Public Employees' Retirement System Board and serves on a statewide taskforce on health-care reform affecting public and private purchasers of health-care coverage for their employees.

ROBERT BISHOP

Deputy City Manager, City of St, John's, Newfoundland

GFOA Member | 13 years

Committee Served

* Canadian Issues

ROBERT BISHOP is interested in maintaining the objectives GFOA has articulated so well over the past 109 years, including developing and maintaining well-trained, experienced, and ethical financial professionals in the public sector; provide research and development of expert knowledge in financial matters over the broad range of government accounting, finance, and management; and continue to cooperate with other entities that have similar aims as well as standardsetting organizations.

As deputy city manager for the City of St. John's, Bishop introduced GFOA best practices and revised policies accordingly; introduced three-year budgets; and improved staff training and progression.

Bishop is a member of the Municipal Finance Officers Association of Ontario, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Newfoundland Government Affairs Committee, and Board of Regents for the Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is also vice president/vice chairman of the Atlantic Conservation Foundation and chair of the investment committee and secretary for the Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland. Bishop testified several times before the Provincial Finance Committee on the financial relationship between provincial government and city and testified before the Social Policy Committee on provincial funding for paratransit.

JESSICA BROWNUNTON

Assistant Chief Financial Officer, City of Durham, North Carolina

GFOA Member | 8 years

Committee Served

* Treasury and Investment Management

JESSICA BROWN-LINTON emphasizes that GFOA should remain an organization where individuals can thrive and grow in their particular professions; examine the challenges of our rapidly changing world by building and leveraging a global platform to help individuals in organizations be a driving force of organizational change; help groom younger, emerging financial leaders by providing relevant exposure to the challenges and rewards of financial public service careers; and continue to identify critical changes facing the world, our country, localities, and the public sector overall. …